Pune: NCRA Employee Booked Under Official Secrets Act For Alleged Exam Paper Leak

Pune: A recruitment examination conducted by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Pune, has come under scrutiny after an employee was booked for allegedly leaking the question paper a day before the test.

The suspect, identified as Vivek Baban Hadwale, has been booked under the Official Secrets Act and relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

A complaint in this regard was lodged at the Chaturshringi police station by Vaibhav Pandurang Sherkar (35), an officer with the vigilance department of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai.

According to the complaint, NCRA conducted a written examination for recruitment to the post of Work Assistant on May 24, 2025, at its centre on the Savitribai Phule Pune University campus in Pune.

The alleged leak came to light in June 2026, when the institution's vigilance department received information that the question paper had been circulated before the examination. Subsequently, on July 31, Sherkar met the person who had provided the information.

During the inquiry, the informant claimed to have received the question paper through WhatsApp from Hadwale's mobile phone at around 7.15 am on May 23, a day before the examination.

The informant also submitted printed copies of the question paper and screenshots of the WhatsApp messages to the vigilance department. Photographs of the question paper displayed on the mobile phone screen were also taken as part of the inquiry.

The vigilance department subsequently compared the paper received by the informant with the original question paper used for the recruitment examination. The verification found that both papers were identical, strengthening the allegation of a pre-examination leak.

Following the inquiry, police registered a case against Hadwale under Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act and Sections 316(2) and 316(5) of the BNS.

Chaturshringi police are conducting further investigation into the case.